


Cops and Robbers

by darkgaaraluver



Category: Free!
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Breaking and Entering, Getting Arrested, M/M, Momo and Ai are very much not, Momo punches more people than last time, Rin and Sousuke are cops, lots of other couples are mentioned but not important, pretty much the whole rest of the gang are mentioned but not important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 23:25:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7335241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkgaaraluver/pseuds/darkgaaraluver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ai sacrifices himself for Momo while on a job, giving himself up to his former love and current friend. Momo has to save him. Also Rin needs better co-workers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cops and Robbers

**Author's Note:**

> So I actually wrote this right after Broken Heart on His Sleeve for the person on Tumblr who named that fic for me. I only posted this on tumblr as a consequence because I didn't think it was good enough for here but I wanted to keep my fic together and who knows? Maybe someone else will like it.

Momo was shaking and trying not to hyperventilate, chocking down his breaths like he’d just run a thousand miles instead of just crouching behind a wall. He could see the blue flashing lights of Rin’s police car through the window across the room, bringing Ai to his doom. Momo fell on his butt and stared at his hands. It was his mistake. He should have been the one carted away. There was a guard at the entrance. Momo thought he knocked him out, but he’d just been dazed. He’d called the police. When the police had come in the building he and Ai had hidden on opposite sides of the room, unable to escape through the police barricade. When Momo saw that it was Rin and Sousuke who were leading the team that had come in, Momo had backed into a display case like an amateur. Momo had immediately looked up, meeting Ai’s eyes from where he was hiding directly across. They shared a split second of panic, before something came over Ai’s eyes. A look a sheer determination. Momo understood what he was going to do and he grew even more panicked. He shook his head frantically in a last ditch effort as the cops came closer and closer to where Momo himself was hiding.

It was too late though. As Rin came closer to the arch that separated the room they were hiding in from the last, gun up, Sousuke a few paces behind him, Ai stepped out from his hiding place and into the middle of the arch with his hands up, laptop held under his elbow. From where he was sitting he could just see Ai’s back, Sousuke’s expression of shock, and Rin’s arm falling, bringing his gun back down to his side, but not Rin’s face.

Rin’s voice was filled with shock when he talked, and shook slightly with suppressed emotions. “Ai? What are you doing here? Since when are you a criminal? We just met for lunch with the whole group last week at Haru’s restaurant and you’re telling me right now that you’ve been doing this?!”

Momo couldn’t see, but Ai kept his face as expressionless as he could. If it was anyone but Rin… But of course it was Rin. Ai had been fearing this moment since Rin joined the police force. “It’s me Rin. I’ve been doing this since college. You caught me.”

Momo saw when Sousuke got control of his shock. His face went right from surprise to a rigid mask. He put his gun away and pulled out his handcuffs. He walked up to Ai and turned him around to cuff him. Letting Momo see Ai’s determined eyes meeting his again. They were so focused on each other they barely heard Sousuke telling Ai his rights. 

It wasn’t until they had taken Ai halfway across the next room when Momo heard Rin ask the question. “Did you work alone Ai? Does Momo have anything to do with this? You have been roommates since you graduated college. I can’t help thinking he had something to do with all this.”

“Of course not Officer Matsuoka. I would never get Momo involved in something like this where he might get hurt. It’s just me, I was working alone.”

Sousuke was the only one who saw Rin’s flinch at how he was addressed. Ai had been calling him just Rin since he graduated college.  
And now here Momo was sitting on the floor in a dark museum watching his friend getting arrested by someone who was probably the love of Ai’s life for a stupid mistake that Momo himself had caused. Ai was right in what he said to Rin. Momo was the one who dragged Ai into this business with him. Momo wasn’t good enough or interested enough in it to continue swimming after he graduated high school. He started picking up small jobs at first. He was naturally flexible and strong from swimming. Boredom and the possibility of girls brought him in contact with the wrong sort of people briefly. Momo had failed his first entrance exam. He was going to try again, but he’d fallen into that bad crowd that he had met while studying. He was far enough in by the time his next chance to take the exam came he decided not to do it against his parents’ wishes and used the money he got to move out. That was when the jobs got bigger and he asked Ai. He was good at climbing into places and breaking locks. After the first time he met a guard one of his new ‘friends’ taught him how to get past one. Most people thought it was only to pick up girls. And eventually boys. He had become slightly more self-aware by then. He didn’t hang out with these people for long but they got him in touch with some people. Momo was practically useless for good jobs alone though because he wasn’t good at technical things. Ai had been going to college for computer programing. It made sense to Momo to ask him to help at the time. Momo never went into detail about what things were for at first. When Ai found out he had been furious at Momo for tricking him into helping. But also scared for Momo. What if he got caught? It took a long time after that for him to help Momo again. When he did he started insisting on coming with Momo. Helping to disable alarms on the premises and other things like that. He refused to use violence against people. It was just as well. Momo had found a slight vicious streak in himself and Ai helped him keep it in check. The more they stole the more well-known they became in the underground the bigger the jobs got. By now the police had a profile on them. Nobody knew who they were, but they’d suddenly become one of Japan’s most wanted.

After Ai graduated college they needed space to work. They decided to move in together, Ai opening a computer store as a front mostly, but they did occasionally sell things. 

Throughout all of this they both kept in contact with Rin and Sousuke and by extension the old Iwatobi group. Haru and Rin had both gone to the Olympics while in college and owned a gold medal a piece. Haru hadn’t wanted to continue after he won his and retired from professional swimming. He became head chef at a small restaurant after he graduated. Makoto became a swim coach for kids and then also took on volunteer firefighting. Makoto and Haru had been living together since their sophomore year of college and were as close to married as they could legally be as of last year. Rin had quite swimming after Haru had claiming that without Haru there was no real competition. He decided to join the police academy with Sousuke back in Japan. The two of them had been in a long distance relationship since they graduated High school and were living together. Rei had gotten a degree in some complex science nobody understands while Nagisa had joined the space program. The two of them had been together since their last year of high school. The old Iwatobi group had kept in close contact and met up at least once a week for lunch at Haru’s restaurant and once Rin came back and joined in Ai, Momo, and Sousuke had all been invited to join.

When Ai had heard about Rin and Sousuke joining the police academy he had panicked and threatened to quit working with Momo again. They had already put a down payment on the space for their computer store/apartment though and were now completely dependent on their illegal jobs. Ai had been looking over his shoulder way too much for the next several months, living in fear that Rin would come and arrest him, making it so that nobody would talk to him again. That his favorite senpai from the old days would hate him. That the one he had loved and looked up to for years would think badly of him. 

Ai had now willingly submitted to his own worst nightmare for Momo. Had always done things for Momo that were against his best interest. From cheering him on in the relay he would have done anything to be on in high school to going along with Momo’s schemes to making them both breakfast in the morning to being there for Momo no matter what he did. Momo was slowly realizing that Ai had always been there for him in ways that no one else had ever been or could dream of. And-and Momo had always cared for Ai. He’d been the first person he turned to for everything, the first person he thought of in the morning, the last person he sees before he closes his eyes at night. Sometimes when it was late at night and they were pouring over blueprints for some building, Momo would look over the table and want to kiss Ai. Could not believe he’d gotten this lucky. When Ai had stepped out from behind that wall Momo had been more scared than if he himself were getting arrested. His whole life had flashed before his eyes. He’d wanted nothing more than to jump out from where he was hiding screaming ‘Take me instead!’ But then where would Ai be? His sacrifice would be useless if they both got caught. Seeing the look in Ai’s eyes just as he made up his mind, hearing him say that stuff to Rin, made Momo think that maybe, just maybe, Ai loved him back. That they had loved each other the whole time and were just too dense to see it. Momo had tried his best to actively not think of Ai like that because he thought that Ai would never get over Rin. That he could never want to be with someone who was so unlike Rin. Maybe Momo had been deluding himself the whole time. 

Momo stood up, filled with new determination. He wasn’t going to let Ai take the blame. He was going to rescue Ai if it killed him. 

 

After Rin told Ai and Momo where he was working the two of them got the blueprints for that station. For reasons. Momo knew they’d have Ai in holding the next 48 hours after he was taken. Momo had climbed into the ventilation system, once again thanking the fact he hadn’t grown much since high school for him fitting. He was now peeking out of the vent grate into the hallway where the holding cell was. Rin and Sousuke must have been in another part of the building because there was some random guy guarding the cell. Momo wondered in the back of his mind if Rin and Sousuke had been taken off the case because they were too close to it.

Momo was contemplating how he was going to get the keys to Ai’s cell, when the guard lent his face right up against Ai’s cell bars to talk to him. Momo stopped thinking to listen in on what the guard was saying. Ai had come over closer to the bars to hear what he had to say too.  
“Hey, cutie, over here. I pulled the short straw and am stuck watching you, you should give me a reward. I’ll make sure you get some good food tomorrow if you let me feed you something good now.”

Ai tried to back up away from the bars when he figured out what the guard wanted, but the guy had shot his arm out and grabbed Ai’s arm so he couldn’t escape. Ai tried to get it off, but he just reached in with his left arm and grabbed both of Ai’s arms, immobilizing him for the most part.

Momo saw red. He didn’t care about cameras anymore. He hoped Rin saw this. Momo back up in the vent so he could turn himself around and kick the grate off. Then he went up behind the guard. The guard turned his head around at the sound of the grate getting kicked off, only to get a good look at Momo’s angry face before he slammed the guard’s head against the bars of Ai’s cell as hard as he could. It made a satisfying crash crunch sound that made Momo smirk. The guard immediately fell to the floor, unconscious, blood dripping from his forehead.

Ai cried out from the cell. “Momo! What are you doing here!? You’re going to get arrested too!”

Momo looked up at Ai. “I’m the one who should have gotten arrested in the first place. I heard what you said to Rin you know, about not getting me into this because it’s dangerous. It’s me who got YOU into this Ai. You didn’t even want too, but you did it to help me. It was my mistake that got the police called in the first place and you know it. It’s been your biggest fear since we started this that Rin would be the one to arrest you, and yet you surrendered yourself to your worst fear for my sake. Now you just sit tight and let me get you out of there.”  
Momo grinned brightly at Ai who smiled tentatively back, still freaked out from everything that was going on, before turning back to the guard. He saw that the key ring was attached to the guard’s belt and his grin took on a sharp edge. He took the whole belt off before slipping the key ring. Then he flipped the guard over and tied his hands and feet together with the belt so that he looked like the pig he was. 

Momo twirled the keyring a few times while he looked over his work, before he turned and used the key to release Ai. 

Ai stepped out and over the hogtied guard, to stand in front of Momo. 

“I’m going to hug you now.” Ai stated seriously before lunging forward and wrapping his arms around Momo’s shoulders. Momo blushed and wrapped his arms around Ai’s back. 

After a few seconds Momo pulled back from Ai a bit so that he could look at him. “This whole thing made me realize some stuff Ai. I-I know you still have feelings for Rin, but I realized that I’m definitely in love with you. I must have been for a long time and just not noticed. Seeing what you did for me just caused it to all slam home. I’d start listing off my hobbies at this point, but we’ve known each other for about seven years so I don’t really think it’s nece-“

Momo was cut off when AI leaned back in and sealed his lips over his. Momo’s eyes opened wide in surprise before closing as he got into the kiss. Momo pulled Ai closer by the back of his shirt, desperate to be as close as possible after being so scared for him. Their lips moved passionately against each other, trying to make up for all the lost time, all the kisses they never gave each other.

They were interrupted by a pained moan coming from the guard as he tried to swim back into consciousness. Momo let go of Ai to crouch down next to the guards head. He needed to gag the guy with something but what to use? Hmm. Ai held out his hand in front of Momo’s face and Momo saw that he was holding the guard’s own sock. 

Momo turned to smile at Ai as he took it. “Thanks Ai!”

Ai blushed and looked down before saying, “I love you too you know Momo. I managed to get over Rin a while ago now. It was really hard at first to accept that he loved Sousuke, but the more time I spent with you the easier it got. When Rin came into the museum I was more scared that you’d be taken away from me than I was of Rin finding out about what we’ve been doing all this time. So, this wasn’t my worst fear. My worst fear was that YOU’D get arrested. I don’t know what I’d do without you anymore.”

Momo didn’t know what to say. He just stared at Ai with huge eyes as he absentmindedly shoved the nasty sock in the guard’s mouth. 

Ai reached out and put his hand on the side of Momo’s face. “Momo are you okay?”

Momo’s whole face softened and then spread into a smile so wide it felt to him as if it were splitting his face in half. “I just love you so much, I’m so happy!”

Ai smiled back, “I’m really happy too. I didn’t know how to tell you until now. But we better get out of here if we both don’t want to get arrested.”

Momo nodded. “Agreed.”

Momo made sure to slam the guard’s head against the tile floor as hard as he could before he stood up and followed Ai back into the ventilation system.

 

Little did they know or care, but the hallway and cell were covered by a video camera that was position right above the vent. They were very lucky that Rin was the one assigned to view the video footage. After he watched the whole thing he sighed and deleted it. When the chief asked Rin just said that the thief had tampered with it. The only one who knew what Rin did was Sousuke. The guard was hit so hard he got a bad concussion and was lucky to have no permanent brain damage, although he couldn’t remember anything that happened from about 24 hours before he got hit to 24 hours after. After seeing the tape Rin and Sousuke watched the guy very closely and he was fired after getting caught and Rin was promoted for catching him. No one but Rin and Sousuke had actually seen Ai in person. They reported that the thief was a small, dark-haired young man. Momo’s theory had been wrong, no one at the station even knew that those two knew the thief. Rin called them at their apartment before they could skip town and told them what he did. They were very surprised. Rin promised not to arrest them as long as they weren’t stealing in his jurisdiction, and that if they ever got caught again he wasn’t covering for them.


End file.
